ww green guide™

All of our vendors comply to at least one of the green guide™ components.

workingwonders
green guide™

Stepping into the world of green products and services can be an adventure, rather like landing in an unknown country with a new language, new ways of thinking, and no travel guide. Knowing that feeling, we’ve done the research, explored the industry standards, and created workingwonders green guide™ to help you map your journey to green. All of our products are carefully selected and identified according to workingwonders’ eight green values for creating clean spaces. Each of our product descriptions will help make you informed decisions and quickly pick the eco-standards that mean the most to you.

Each of our product descriptions includes from one to eight icons, identifying the ways in which that product has qualified as green by our standards.

Each of the icons is linked to one of workingwonders’ eight goals for greening. For each icon, we list a series of strategies for achieving that goal, as well as examples of methods that various companies have used.

To learn more about the strategies used by a particular company for a particular product, you can refer to that company’s Green Action statement.

We expect to revise the guide from time to time as new information and new materials become available. We invite you to participate in this process through our online community, NextinLime, or by emailing your thoughts and information to us at clientservices@workingwonders.com

reduces waste

This product contains a large proportion of recycled and/or bio-based material which reduces or eliminates hazardous gaseous, liquid or solid waste.

This product does one or more of the following:

Uses pre-consumer recycled content

Uses post-consumer recycled content

Uses agricultural waste products

Reduces overall material usage

Reduces or eliminates solid waste in operation

Increased durability/low maintenance requirements for longer lifespan

Designed for recycling after useful life is past

Reduced impact of product demolition

For example, Balanced Design uses recycled soda pop bottles for 50% of the stuffing in their pillows, while C & A Carpet uses old vinyl carpeting, theirs and their competitors’, to make new carpeting. This is called a “closed loop” process.

For example, Maria Yee produces a number of pieces of their designer quality furnishing line from Moso Bamboo, a fast-growing bamboo which has a five-year life cycle and exceeds steel in tensile strength.

improves air quality

This product uses natural or minimally processed, non-hazardous materials that do not release pollutants or ozone-depleting gases, and/or removes indoor pollutants, and/or blocks the introduction, development or spread of contaminants.

This product does one or more of the following:

Uses natural or minimally processed materials

Uses no hazardous chemicals or operation

Creates no hazardous chemicals or emissions in operation

Creates no climate change/ozone depleting gases in operation

Reduces or eliminates pesticide treatment

Removes indoor pollutants

Blocks introduction, development or spread of contaminants

For example, the Swiss IQAir cleaners, both free-standing units and whole home/building systems are a leading-edge product in the drive to improve indoor air quality.

saves energy and/or water

This product reduces the energy and water required for a building’s functionality and the occupants’ needs.

This product does one or more of the following:

Uses natural or minimally processed materials

Reduces the energy required to maintain building at a comfortable temperature (a.k.a. “heating and cooling loads”)

Reduces the energy required to support building functions (a.k.a. “managed loads”)

Uses renewable/sustainable energy sources in operation

Minimizes total energy use in operation

Conserves water in operation

Reduces or eliminates stormwater pollution and harmful discharges to watersheds in operation

For example, Earthshade, our product line of natural window fashions, boasts an impressive degree of insulating and sun-shading properties that may increase the energy performance of window systems: their Hemp Insuliner™ alone provides an average calculated “R” value of 4.5!

better production practices

This company reduces the impact of production by using recycled/recyclable, non-hazardous materials, and/or reducing or eliminating solid, liquid or gaseous waste, and/or reducing or eliminating worker exposure to hazardous materials.

This product does one or more of the following:

Uses and creates no hazardous chemicals

Emits no toxic gases

Emits no climate change/ozone depleting gases

Eliminates solid waste

Conserves water

Reduces or eliminates stormwater pollution and harmful discharges to watersheds

Uses only renewable/sustainable energy resources

Uses alternatives to ozone-depleting materials

Reduces or eliminates pesticide treatment

For example, Indika Organics developed its environmentally conscious manufacturing processes for textiles in response to the needs of people suffering due to chemical sensitivities.

For example, Riverside Designs ships their recycled glassware using renewable resource packaging materials which are easily recyclable and biodegradable.

better community relations

This company protects the safety, health and well-being of its workers, consumers, and community, while providing fair compensation to all workers, and/or taking responsibility for the environmental, social and health impacts of its operations.

This product does one or more of the following:

Takes responsibility for environmental, social & health impacts of operations

Warns workers and community of health hazards

Enhances community well-being

Protects workers’ safety, health, well-being

Protects consumers’ safety, health, well-being

Provides fair compensation for all workers

Contributes positively to affected communities

For example, Valcucine founded a non-profit organization, Bioforest, which supports environmental protection in the Amazon basin as well as reforestation and education programs around the world. Their CO2 sink program plants twice as many trees as necessary to absorb their annual CO2 output.

manufacturing location

The location where this product is extracted, processed and manufactured may make it eligible for being used in a project seeking USGBC LEED certification (as a nationally recognized green building or interior). Alternatively, it may represent a country or community which you would like to support.

For example, Natural Knots’ heirloom quality rugs are produced by hand in a village suburb of Kathmandu, Nepal.